United or Untied: Legal lessons from the latest ‘gripe site’ case

A recent decision of the Federal Court is an important new precedent for determining when the use of others’ intellectual property to criticize their products and services, including through “gripe sites”, becomes actionable infringement.

At issue in United Airlines, Inc. v. Jeremy Cooperstock, 2017 FC 616 was a website located at www.untied.com which the Court described as a “consumer criticism website where visitors can find information about the plaintiff, submit complaints about the plaintiff, and read complaints about the plaintiff dating back to 1998 in the...